


A Model Employee

by orphan_account



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-30
Updated: 2014-01-30
Packaged: 2018-01-10 14:03:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1160550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity's slimy ex does something not very nice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Model Employee

_I’m gonna kill him. I’m literally going to murder him and throw his body into the harbor._

Felicity was fuming. She couldn’t believe the level of anger she was feeling. Her morning had started off so well, too. Just another Tuesday. She stopped for coffee, got to the office early to catch up on some paperwork, and headed down to the IT break room around 8am to use the microwave (the one on the upper floors was newer but just didn’t work the same according to her).

There was a group of employees in the room when she got there. They were all huddled together, looking at something and laughing. As soon as they saw her, they hushed up. She suddenly felt very self-conscious.

"What?", she asked, suspiciously.

Amy looked at the floor guiltily. “Sorry, Felicity. These were up when we got in this morning.” She handed Felicity a piece of paper, and Felicity was shocked to see a photo of herself. An old modeling photo.

She paled as she looked around the room at all the others and saw they were holding photos as well. “No”, she breathed out dramatically, before turning and running for the elevator.

There was only one person at QC who knew about those photos. A guy she had mistakenly dated for three months right after she started working there. Mark didn’t work in IT; he was personal assistant to the chief financial officer.

The elevator dinged at the 11th floor and she set her eyes on Mark as soon as the doors opened. He looked up at the noise and he smirked, leaning against his desk.

_Oh, he is dead._

She still had the photo in her hand and she shoved it into his chest as she reached him. “Are you kidding me? What the hell is your problem?”

He had the audacity to laugh.  _The jackass_. “What? You look good.”

"I didn’t want anyone knowing about these! You knew that!"

He shrugged, carefree.

"Why now?", she demanded. It’d been over two years since they’d dated.

He fixed her with a cold stare. “I just thought your new boyfriend might like to see them.”

"What are you- Oliver? You think I’m dating my boss?" Felicity scoffed, outraged that petty (unsubstantiated) jealousy was the cause of her humiliation.

"Everyone knows about you two", Mark continued. "I guess a lowly PA wasn’t good enough for you."

"You unmitigated asshole", Felicity seethed. "You had no right. My personal life is none of your business."

He laughed again, enjoying her outburst, and she fought against the urge to punch his as her fist curled.

"This is sexual harassment, Mark." He stopped laughing. "And you can bet your ass I’m going to report it."

She turned around swiftly and walked back to the elevator. She stared resolutely at the steel doors until they opened, then pushed the button for Oliver’s office floor and glared at Mark until the doors shut again. She took absolute pleasure in the look of fear on his face.

She deflated once the doors were closed, and she felt her hands shaking. She didn’t want to report him, didn’t want anyone else knowing about the photos, but she’d be damned if she let him get away with it. She promised herself she’d go see HR after lunch.

When she returned to her desk, she was surprised to see that Oliver wasn’t in his office. She wondered where he was briefly before focusing on her morning work. It was a good 30 minutes before he arrived.

She was in a marginally better mood by that point, and greeted him with a smile. “Good morning. Where have you been?”

He opened his mouth to answer, to lie, then shut it again and stared at her for a long moment. He sighed and removed a folded up piece of paper from his pocket. He unfolded it and handed it to her.

It was a picture of her. One of the ones Mark had put up in the break room.

Before she could say anything, he explained. “You weren’t at your desk when I came in, so I thought you might be in the break room downstairs. I know that you like their microwave more. So I went to find you, mostly in an effort to avoid Isabel’s morning conference call. There was no one in the room when I got there, but I was turning to leave when I saw that.”

Felicity waited for him to continue.

"I walked down the hall to IT and asked the first person I came across about it. They were hesitant to say anything, but then a woman- Amy, I think- overheard us and told me about the photos. I asked her if she knew who had done it, and she told me she had an idea. I guess the guy has been spreading rumors…" He hesitated to say what the rumors had been about, but Felicity knew. "I went to confront him, but he was already pretty shaken up." He smiled at her, impressed with her ability to strike fear into a man’s heart with just her words. "I told him he was fired."

Felicity sighed, sinking back against her chair. “Thank you”, she told him sincerely, but added, “I was going to go to HR, but I guess you saved me the trouble.”

"I hope that’s okay", Oliver replied. He didn’t want her to think he doubted her ability to handle the situation herself, or that he felt he had to fight her battles for her. He knew she could, but he did bear some responsibility- for not addressing, or even taking into consideration, the rumors that accompanied her promotion.

"Did you break any of his fingers?", she asked seriously.

Oliver chuckled softly, unsure of which answer she would prefer. “No”, he answered truthfully. “I managed to control myself.”

"Darn", she answered playfully, as she fought back a smile. "I guess you’re probably curious about-", she gestured to the photo.

Oliver hesitated answering. He was curious, but he also didn’t want her to tell him if she didn’t want to.

She explained before he decided. “I was on scholarship in college. A good scholarship, but it wasn’t quite enough. I did modeling on the side my junior and senior year. I’m not embarrassed about it”, she told him firmly. “I just didn’t want the people I work with judging me for it, or risk them not taking me seriously because of it.”

"I don’t even know how Mark got them", she lamented. "I deleted all the ones I found online. He must have gone to the photographer."

Oliver couldn’t believe that the man in question would put so much effort into hurting her. He was seriously regretting not punching him.

"But I guess it’s out there now", she said dramatically, settling on humor to deal with the moment. "My big secret." She dissolved into laughter as Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"I think I’ll go collect the rest of the prints downstairs", Felicity said as her laughter subsided. She stood up from her desk, tucking her Bluetooth headpiece in her ear. "Try to contain this situation a little."

Oliver nodded and watched her walk off to the elevator. He doubted anyone would judge Felicity for those photos.  _If anything_ , he thought, as he sat down at his desk,  _they’re gonna be jealous._

**Author's Note:**

> Just a one shot that popped into my head earlier. Hope you like! :))


End file.
